Using OBC to Gamble?

[handbellplayer]

We have $500 in onboard credit on our upcoming Edge cruise (leaving Friday). my husband was planning on using most of that in the casino for table games until we saw the notice below on the app. It sounds like he won’t be able to do that. I have already pre-paid everything else. Will we lose that OBC?  We have always been able to use OBC in the casino on other cruise lines.  

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by handbellplayer

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 minute ago, handbellplayer said:

We have $500 in onboard credit on our upcoming Edge cruise (leaving Friday). my husband was planning on using most of that in the casino for table games until we saw the notice below on the app. It sounds like he won’t be able to do that. I have already pre-paid everything else. Will we lose that OBC?  We have always been able to use OBC in the casino on other cruise lines.  

 

 

URL not working, perhaps a screenshot and you can block out any personal info

[handbellplayer]

4 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

URL not working, perhaps a screenshot and you can block out any personal info

I thought it was a screen shot....not sure what I'm doing wrong....

I tried to edit - is it working now?

Edited April 5, 2023 by handbellplayer

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 minutes ago, handbellplayer said:

I thought it was a screen shot....not sure what I'm doing wrong....

 

Perhaps copy and paste?  Not sure what the email says.  Generally if the ship's casino allows room charges, I believe the Reflection does not, that is how you do it.  If you purchase promo chips you have to gamble with them

[Pennstatedj]

You will be able to use OBC for promo chips. You can use and then when you win you will be paid with real chips. Then you can cash in your winnings. 

To cash in the promo chips that depends on the ship you are on. You will see many threads on the subject. 

[handbellplayer]

4 minutes ago, Pennstatedj said:

You will be able to use OBC for promo chips. You can use and then when you win you will be paid with real chips. Then you can cash in your winnings. 

To cash in the promo chips that depends on the ship you are on. You will see many threads on the subject. 

Thanks - I searched for threads on this topic and most them were about folks wanting to get their OBC cashed out without gambling.  That's not what we're trying to do.

[NutsAboutGolf]

You want a room charge on a slot machine and cashout

[DaKahuna]

If you go to the cashier's cage and ask for $100 from your OBC, they will give you $100 in promotional chips.  If you go to the roulette table and bet $50 in promotional chips on red and the ball lands of a red number, you still have the $50 promotional chips and $50 in real chips.  Take the $50 in real chips and put them in your pocket.  If you leave your original bet on red and it comes up on red again, you get another $50 in real chips.  Keep playing either red or black with just the promotional chips until you have gambled them all away.   Any real chips you win are yours to cash in.  

 

It does not have to be roulette = it works the same for all table games.

 

As @NutsAboutGolf said, if you use the slot machines you do a room charge on the machine and say you put $100 on the machine.  On some ships I was able to make one bet and cash out and got a payment slip for the amount left in my machine balance.  On another I was paid out in what I had won and anything remaining from the room charge went back to my room account. 

 

[cruisestitch]

2 hours ago, handbellplayer said:

Thanks - I searched for threads on this topic and most them were about folks wanting to get their OBC cashed out without gambling.  That's not what we're trying to do.

Screenshot is telling you that you can do exactly what you want to do. I’m not sure I see the problem

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

If you go to the cashier's cage and ask for $100 from your OBC, they will give you $100 in promotional chips.  If you go to the roulette table and bet $50 in promotional chips on red and the ball lands of a red number, you still have the $50 promotional chips and $50 in real chips.  Take the $50 in real chips and put them in your pocket.  If you leave your original bet on red and it comes up on red again, you get another $50 in real chips.  Keep playing either red or black with just the promotional chips until you have gambled them all away.   Any real chips you win are yours to cash in.  

 

It does not have to be roulette = it works the same for all table games.

 

As @NutsAboutGolf said, if you use the slot machines you do a room charge on the machine and say you put $100 on the machine.  On some ships I was able to make one bet and cash out and got a payment slip for the amount left in my machine balance.  On another I was paid out in what I had won and anything remaining from the room charge went back to my room account. 

 

When did you last use promotional chips to bet on red or black? On our last 4 cruises on Silhouette (2021 and 2022) promotional chips could only be played on the inside numbers I e. not on Red/Black, odds/evens etc.

You can however easily (with a very small risk), convert your OBC into cold hard cash and have fun at the same time by playing corners - 5 chips gives you practically an even bet. We use this system on every cruise and have only lost once. Just returned from our latest cruise where we played 2 sessions of around 20 minutes each during which we converted our 150 promtotional dollars into 155 real dollars and gave the croupier 9 dollars tip. 

[Pennstatedj]

On Apex and Sit and Eq I could not use promo chips on red and Black bets.

[countess5]

Was on Reflection about 3 weeks ago. Had $370 of OBC remaining the last night. Went to the casino, asked for slot credit. Put the voucher in Wheel of Fortune. DW played $10 bets (max) 3 times, on the third time she hit spin and when the wheel stopped it was on $250. 

I cashed out, machine produced a voucher and the cashier paid cash on the total amount. The OBC and winnings was all on the same voucher. 

 

On Beyond the week prior played craps with the OBC chips. Each time I bet and won they paid in real chips. Always played the OBC chips when betting before I used the real chips. 

 

Cheers! 

[handbellplayer]

I really appreciate all of the responses.  I understand the process better now.  Lose their money (OBC) and keep my winnings!

[39august]

No need to just bet red or black at roulette.  Bet what you want with your promo chips and you will be paid in real chips. We think it is a lot of fun to gamble with their money! 

[Arizona Wildcat]

4 hours ago, Pennstatedj said:

On Apex and Sit and Eq I could not use promo chips on red and Black bets.

On Summit DW used promo chips on RED or BLACK.  

Understand it varies.   Playing blackjack I bet the promo chips and was told I got cashable/real chips for my winnings and the promo bet chip returned to me.  Next night I complained and I got all regular chips on a winning bet.

[Pennstatedj]

I have always gotten regular chips, but every dealer is different. New ones let you go sometimes. New rules make you make a combined $10 bet min. I was doing an outside Red/Black bet and 9 one bets, then stopped the CC coupon bets and then only played 9 and he let me go. I played 200 in OBC promo bets. So it depends on ship casino rules and then dealer has final say and it varies. 

[travel1light]

2 hours ago, countess5 said:

Was on Reflection about 3 weeks ago. Had $370 of OBC remaining the last night. Went to the casino, asked for slot credit. Put the voucher in Wheel of Fortune. DW played $10 bets (max) 3 times, on the third time she hit spin and when the wheel stopped it was on $250. 

I cashed out, machine produced a voucher and the cashier paid cash on the total amount. The OBC and winnings was all on the same voucher. 

 

On Beyond the week prior played craps with the OBC chips. Each time I bet and won they paid in real chips. Always played the OBC chips when betting before I used the real chips. 

 

Cheers! 

A couple of questions;

 

1) I assume this works the same for blackjack? OBC to promo chips, winnings paid in real chips.

 

2) If, by chance, you have promo chips still left, can they be transferred back to OBC? Or only good to continue playing?

 

thanks. 

[countess5]

6 minutes ago, travel1light said:

A couple of questions;

 

1) I assume this works the same for blackjack? OBC to promo chips, winnings paid in real chips.

 

2) If, by chance, you have promo chips still left, can they be transferred back to OBC? Or only good to continue playing?

 

thanks. 

I would say it does, I played a little BJ and they paid in real chips. The staff actually helps you. When I would back up a bet using real chips they said I should use the OBC chips. 
 

I would think you could take the unused OBC chips  and ask to have them turned into slot credit. Place it in a slot and make a couple of pulls then cash out. Haven’t tried turning OBC chips into slot credit but you never know. 
 

Cheers! 

[DaKahuna]

8 hours ago, the penguins said:

When did you last use promotional chips to bet on red or black? On our last 4 cruises on Silhouette (2021 and 2022) promotional chips could only be played on the inside numbers I e. not on Red/Black, odds/evens etc.

 

 

Thinking back it was pre-COVID so it would have been in 2018 or 2019. 

 

On our last couple of cruises I have used the slot machines to cash out OBC. 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by DaKahuna

[marieps]

14 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

If you go to the cashier's cage and ask for $100 from your OBC, they will give you $100 in promotional chips.  If you go to the roulette table and bet $50 in promotional chips on red and the ball lands of a red number, you still have the $50 promotional chips and $50 in real chips.  Take the $50 in real chips and put them in your pocket.  If you leave your original bet on red and it comes up on red again, you get another $50 in real chips.  Keep playing either red or black with just the promotional chips until you have gambled them all away.   Any real chips you win are yours to cash in.  

 

It does not have to be roulette = it works the same for all table games.

 

As @NutsAboutGolf said, if you use the slot machines you do a room charge on the machine and say you put $100 on the machine.  On some ships I was able to make one bet and cash out and got a payment slip for the amount left in my machine balance.  On another I was paid out in what I had won and anything remaining from the room charge went back to my room account. 

 

Strange how it works differently on different ships.  We were told you have to put 10% of the "room charge" amount at risk before you can cash out.  We play the max on a $1.5 machine.  It takes only 7 spins and you've played enough to cash out.  If you cash out after only one bet, you are locked out of the "room charge" option for 24 hours.  That happened to DW once.

[NutsAboutGolf]

23 hours ago, marieps said:

Strange how it works differently on different ships.  We were told you have to put 10% of the "room charge" amount at risk before you can cash out.  We play the max on a $1.5 machine.  It takes only 7 spins and you've played enough to cash out.  If you cash out after only one bet, you are locked out of the "room charge" option for 24 hours.  That happened to DW once.

 

That's correct but you are not blocked from the ability to cash out, your account just gets flagged and you cannot gamble on that sailing until you talk and convince a casino staff member to remove the flag which is easy to do.  However the best strategy is to gamble like normal all sailing long then on the last day, to do the OBC room charge and cash out

[DCPIV]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:13 AM, travel1light said:

2) If, by chance, you have promo chips still left, can they be transferred back to OBC? Or only good to continue playing?

 

You cannot switch promo chips back to OBC.  I asked and got a very clear (and polite) "no." 

 

As the other poster mentioned, you may be able to convert them to slot credit, but I don't know about that.  If you have even an inkling of an intent do so, I'd ask beforehand.

[GRBlizz]

On Silhouette TA last fall, we found ourselves with a lot of leftover OBC after I had done my worst at the spa. We haven't traditionally gambled. Four days before the end of the cruise, DH and I each put $100 from room charge on slot machines and played a few spins. We got lucky and ended up $15-20 ahead, so we decided to cash out. That was fine.

 

Next day, we went back and found we were locked out. However, we had a few promo dollars and played them. Turns out I liked the slots (uh-oh!). A friendly fellow passenger said we would have to wait three days.

 

We checked every day, and sure enough on the last day of the cruise, we were able to transfer money from our room to the machines. So we each put on half of the OBC we wouldn't use in tips, and went to town. This time we played longer because it was fun. Still ended up a small bit ahead. So we cashed out our OBC and also had some fun.

 

I don't know what percent of the amount transferred you have to risk to avoid being locked out. But on our next cruise we will just play as we want during the cruise, and play to cash out on the last day.

[NutsAboutGolf]

12 minutes ago, GRBlizz said:

On Silhouette TA last fall, we found ourselves with a lot of leftover OBC after I had done my worst at the spa. We haven't traditionally gambled. Four days before the end of the cruise, DH and I each put $100 from room charge on slot machines and played a few spins. We got lucky and ended up $15-20 ahead, so we decided to cash out. That was fine.

 

Next day, we went back and found we were locked out. However, we had a few promo dollars and played them. Turns out I liked the slots (uh-oh!). A friendly fellow passenger said we would have to wait three days.

 

We checked every day, and sure enough on the last day of the cruise, we were able to transfer money from our room to the machines. So we each put on half of the OBC we wouldn't use in tips, and went to town. This time we played longer because it was fun. Still ended up a small bit ahead. So we cashed out our OBC and also had some fun.

 

I don't know what percent of the amount transferred you have to risk to avoid being locked out. But on our next cruise we will just play as we want during the cruise, and play to cash out on the last day.

 

Thanks for sharing about the 3 days, I was only locked out once and while was told the lock lasts the entire sailing, I was on the 3rd to last day

[Midpacpl]

If I recall you use the promo chips at the tables but when you win they pay you in “regular” casino chips not promotional chips. So just use the promo chips and cash in the casino chips. 
Same with slots- they load the promo money onto your sea card and you download whatever you want to put into

that machine- I suggest only downloading $10 or $20 at a time in case you don’t like the machine cause once it’s downloaded to a specific machine you have to play it out on that machine. If you like the machine press the button and get the ticket for your winning and download some more of your promo money into the machine. 
Anyhow, normally the machines track your promo balance (maybe not cruise ship machines but in “regular casinos” they do) which is normally not the same as your total balance which is hopefully higher.  You can cash out of the machine and get a ticket for any winnings over and above the promo money. Just keep collecting your winnings not using them. Use up the promo money first.